Enbridge can't say if federal cuts would undermine oil spill response

A member of Greenpeace pretends to clean up a mock oil spill outside the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline office in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 13, 2012.

Photograph by: Jonathan Hayward
, THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Alberta-based Enbridge can't say what impact millions of dollars in cuts to federal environmental emergency staff would have on its oil-spill response plan for the Northern Gateway pipeline project, even though the plan relies partly on federal help if a spill were to occur.

Enbridge identified the Environment Canada unit as part of its emergency response plan in March 2011, before the Harper government's 2012 budget eliminated regional jobs and funding for the team that responds to environmental accidents and disasters.

"Environment Canada is recognized as the federal authority for environmental advice during a pollution incident," said Enbridge in the oil spill response plan. "Environment Canada and appropriate provincial representatives (i.e., British Columbia Ministry of Environment or Alberta Environment) co-chair the regional environmental emergencies team (REET)."

Enbridge highlighted its 2011 document last week in response to questions from Postmedia News about internal federal records that revealed various government departments had raised safety concerns about the proposed pipeline project in 2010 and warned that it had an "insufficient" oil spill response plan along sensitive areas on its 1,200 km route from Edmonton to Kitimat, on the British Columbia coast.

Enbridge has told Postmedia News that it continues to provide new information requested by the government on its efforts to protect the environment and respond to potential emergencies.

But a company spokesman declined to elaborate on the potential effects of nearly $4 million in annual cuts to the government's environmental emergencies program as Environment Canada shuts down six regional offices — including those in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Dartmouth, N.S., and St. John's — reducing the federal disaster response program to two offices that are expected to be in Montreal and Gatineau, Que.

"Northern Gateway is not in a position to comment on Environment Canada's level of service regarding emergency response and their role as co-chair of the Pacific regional environmental emergencies team," said Todd Nogier, a manager of corporate and western access communications for Enbridge.

"Northern Gateway has committed to establishing an enhanced response capacity for the Northern Gateway Project. Northern Gateway will work with Environment Canada during the development of detailed plans."

Enbridge also is downplaying details emerging from the internal government records, released through access to information legislation, that revealed officials from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans were raising alarms about the company's requests to use government resources for its own research on the project.

The records showed that Enbridge had asked federal scientists to help it gather and evaluate data on impacts to marine sponges, as well as to marine mammals potentially affected by their proposed pipeline.

"I would be very surprised if DFO scientists would share their unpublished data with Enbridge," wrote Jeff Johansen, a department manager from a fisheries department division focused on species at risk, in an email to other colleagues dated Oct. 14, 2010. "In all my years in EA (environmental assessments), I never had a proponent ask DFO to provide 'consultant' advice or information. Once you open that door, the department would be overwhelmed with requests."

Nogier said it was "normal and best practice" to gather all relevant scientific information to understand potential effects on species at risk.

"To do this we gather as much historical data as can be readily obtained, including available information from federal departments and public sources," Nogier said. "In addition, Northern Gateway has hired some of the best scientists and environmental assessment practitioners in Canada and throughout the world for the development of its application and environmental management program."

Enbridge has been facing a number of public relations headaches this month as it continues to promote the Northern Gateway project, now in the midst of an environmental hearings process.

The company reopened a pipeline network a few days ago that was shut down following a leak of about 230,000 litres of heavy crude oil that appears to related to a failed gasket at a pumping station near Elk Point, Alberta.

It also was facing questions after a report from the U.S. Transportation Safety Board revealed that the company's Edmonton staff took about 17 hours to respond to warnings and shut down a pipeline that eventually leaked about three million litres of diluted bitumen from the oilsands into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan two years ago. The regulator's investigation is still ongoing.

Enbridge said all sections of the Kalamazoo River are now reopened but its cleanup efforts continue, nearly two years after the spill.

"The public could see oil sheen or flecks of oil in the river, even after sections open," Enbridge said in a statement released on June 21. "Remaining oil found in the river is not hazardous upon incidental contact, according to the results of a study conducted by the Michigan Department of Community Health. As the river opens, river access locations include a cleaning station for any residual oil found on watercraft or skin."

A former national manager of the centre that co-ordinated government response to oil spills and other accidents, Luke Trip, has described this year's Environment Canada cuts as an "abrogation" of the federal government's responsibilities to protect the health and safety of Canadians.

But Environment Minister Peter Kent has dismissed concerns from Trip and other scientists, opposition critics, conservation groups as well as former Conservative government cabinet ministers about its plans to rewrite Canadian environmental laws and reduce spending and services.

The cuts to the environmental emergencies team are among millions of dollars in cuts to scientific research and monitoring of Canada's air, water and land announced through the 2012 federal budget.